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Planning
It’ s not just at the planning and strategy level that FP & A teams are becoming better partners with supply chain and operations; it’ s also with day-to-day management. Despite the sophisticated IT infrastructure that many organizations have, not to mention the huge amount of data within it, many leaders still struggle to get timely information and often are basing decisions on management reports whose numbers are already out-of-date when they arrive.
FP & A teams are getting involved here too, for example with supporting shorter-term decisions needed to optimize the business response to near-term volatility, and ensuring the responses that get made are optimized for both the business and the customer. This decision-making is supported by financial analysis and scenario planning, covering a range of options to be considered as part of the decision making, rather than the traditional finance approach of‘ standard costs are X and therefore the impact is Y.’
Does the rise of FP & A spell trouble for supply chain leaders looking to become CEOs? FP & A is making the case for the Finance Director( FD) to become the
CEO even stronger through their greater experience of delivering strategy... but supply chain leaders need not fear, as long as they too have a good grasp of the numbers.
Redefining leadership
Nowadays many FDs aren’ t qualified accountants, they are instead switchedon leaders who know how to get the best from their team, understand the business strategy, and understand what it’ s going to take to succeed. While the FD might be eyeing up the CEO’ s job, supply chain leaders should consider eyeing up the FD’ s role, especially where they have a finance function that is stuck in the past by providing reporting but not analysis, and they instead can bring a much-needed commercial approach. ■
Andy Walker www. OliverWight-EAME. com
Andy Walker is a partner at Oliver Wight EAME with over 25 years of experience in finance, demand, and supply chain management. Oliver Wight EAME is a leading business improvement consultancy with more than 55 years of experience, specializing in empowering organizations to achieve performance excellence.
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